1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to window blinds. More particularly, the present invention relates to the mounting of such blinds in other than a vertical orientation.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Wherever there are windows, there is a need for privacy, shade, and accenting decoration. Blinds provide an excellent method for controlling privacy and for controlling the amount of light entering through windows while adding a decorative accent to the window.
Window blinds, such as Venetian blinds, are known. Such blinds comprise several parallel slats arranged one over the other. The blinds include a headrail from which the slats are suspended and a basebar or baserail that maintains a gravity (downward) bias on the slats to hold them in a generally coplanar alignment.
Such blinds also include a tilt device wherein the slats may be simultaneously selectively positioned at various angles to adjust the amount of light admitted by the blind. The tilt device usually includes an elongated shaft projecting from a tilt adjust mechanism. Twisting the shaft adjusts slat tilt.
Additionally, blinds of this type have a draw device that allows the slats to be either selectively drawn together such that the blind is raised, or separated such that the blind is lowered. Raising or lowering of the blind is accomplished with a drawstring that extends from the headrail through each slat and to the baserail. To raise or lower the blind, the drawstring is pulled or released. A catch grabs the drawstring and the blind is maintained in the raised position. To reposition the blind, the catch is released.
The blind slats are joined to each other by a string, a series of strings, a cloth tape, or the like that either runs along the edges of the slats, perpendicular to the slats, or that runs through coaxial apertures through each of the slats.
Such blinds work very well when suspended in a vertical orientation. However, windows are often placed in other than vertical walls. They are often placed in ceilings, they are placed at angles, they are placed in any way possible to create a light, open, and airy feeling.
Prior art blinds only operate in a vertical orientation. Hanging a typical blind from a ceiling, for example, would require attaching both the headrail and the baserail to the window frame such that the blind would be stretched across the window. A problem with this simple solution to the problem of hanging blinds in an other than vertical orientation resides in the nature of the blind itself. The slats are strung together in such a manner that when the blind is placed in an other than vertical orientation, the slats sag or pull downwardly according to their center of gravity. In the example of hanging a blind from a ceiling, the blind would assume a bow shape with the slats at the center of the blind dipping significantly out of the plane of the headrail and baserail. With this arrangement it would be difficult to adjust the blinds as desired. Furthermore, the sagging, drooping blinds would be unsightly.